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Watchdog finds deficiencies at Macquarie

Macquarie Group's private wealth business has been reprimanded by the corporate watchdog for failing to comply with industry standards.

A "significant number" of advisers working for Macquarie Private Wealth had failed to demonstrate reasonable basis for the advice they provided to clients, failed to keep supporting documents to determine if there was a basis for the advice given to clients, and kept poor client records, a review by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) found.

"ASIC is about ensuring investors can be confident and informed, and central to this is ensuring financial services are provided efficiently, honestly and fairly," ASIC chairman Greg Medcraft said in a statement.

"Our surveillance found Macquarie Private Wealth fell significantly short of this mark, so ASIC took action."

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ASIC said on Tuesday that Macquarie Private Wealth had identified compliance issues in 2008, but failed to inform the corporate watchdog.

ASIC found recurring issues when it began its review of Macquarie Private Wealth's compliance systems in December 2011.

Macquarie Private Wealth has offered an enforceable undertaking (EU) to ASIC, which requires a plan to be implemented to rectify the issues identified.

The plans will be overseen by an independent expert.

"This is a major EU affecting one of the wealth industry's biggest players, which we believe will rectify some serious compliance deficiencies," Mr Medcraft said.

A Macquarie spokesperson said the company was committed to addressing ASIC's concerns by implementing the necessary changes to improve compliance processes and systems, in particular record keeping.